Earned Rest
by Enabeans
Summary: Abel visits Lilith's tomb after the final battle. COMPLETE


**Earned Rest**

He had promised himself that he would never come back here again.

It was just another broken promise, the last in a chain of failure, yet this one didn't evoke the same guilt as breaking another might. He meant to be here, he had made the conscious choice to come, and he knew that she would forgive him for coming back to the darkness. The black interior of the tomb enveloped him like a shroud, the damp smell and the way his footsteps were muffled in the dust seemed almost.. like returning to home after a long absence. It was familiar here, it awoke an old ache in his heart that had never truly been buried over.

His footsteps were heavy, and even muffled they echoed in the silence as he descended further into the tomb. Slow and steady, AX issue boots scuffed and burnt, bits of leather crumbling off and leaving a strange parody of Hansel and Gretel's breadcrumbs to show the way back to the surface. The slow thud of his boots faltered for a moment as he stumbled into the wall, legs trembling with the effort to keep moving. His skin was freshly scarred and some wounds still bled. The nanomachines were weakly trying to fix the damage, but even they seemed sluggish now. Spent. He had exhausted their energy and refused to fuel them further. Let him bleed, he had endured worse. It was only for a second that he allowed himself to lean against the wall, eyes closed and breathing a little laboured and ragged. The tiniest grunt of effort forced its way out as he pushed off again and forced himself to keep walking, keep going. His journey was almost over and he wouldn't allow himself to fall at the final hurdle, not when he had something important to do.

Finally he reached the tomb itself, and the woman who still lay in a glass coffin perfectly preserved even after centuries. The sight of her took his breath away, there was no preparing for a moment like this, there was nothing he could do to steel himself against the grief that suddenly felt just as raw as if she had died yesterday. She still looked so beautiful, radiant, and yet it was all wrong. She had never belonged down here in the dark, she had been a creature of sunshine and peace, she deserved to be living out her days in the light, not still and silent here in the dark. Lump hard in his throat, he approached the coffin and shifted his burden to one arm, so that he could rest a hand on the glass lightly.

"...I'm back, Lilith."

His voice echoed back at him, distorting the return sound to make him flinch just barely. It felt wrong to hear his voice here, as though he were sullying the very air somehow by being here. He didn't belong near her side, he didn't deserve to speak where she might somehow hear him. Yet he couldn't stop himself, he had always been a selfish creature and he wanted to cling to whatever was left to him of the people he loved so much.

"I've brought you... I did it."

His words tapered off at the end, choked and hoarse where he was already having to fight back tears. Taking his hand back from the glass and letting it rest on what he carried again, he slowly laid it down on the ground beside Lilith's coffin. Brilliant blond hair seemed too vibrant against the dirt, but it was the smile that drew his eyes like a magnet. His brother's smile. Not 01, not the monster that had worn his body for so long, but the real Cain. He had smiled as Abel killed him, and now he finally looked... peaceful.

He had promised to protect the humans and care for the world, to care for his family again as he never had when he had the chance. But now he was the only one left. Seth and Lilith had both been killed by his mistakes, by not seeing what Cain had become in time and not stopping him. He should have done more, but... that was the motto of his life now, wasn't it? And now, finally, Cain was also at rest and the last one alive was the one least deserving of life. He had promised to protect the humans, but now he was the only thing left to protect them against. The best thing he could do for them now was to stay here, was to not interfere and allow them to make peace. Esther had a good heart, she could lead them to a better world, one that didn't even realise monsters once walked among them. Perhaps he would never die. Perhaps he would stay down here for all of eternity with nothing but his thoughts for company, but he deserved no better.

Sliding to the floor beside his twin, fingers almost tentatively touching blond hair, his eyes tilted up to fix on the woman behind the glass. He was _tired, _so very tired, but finally he could rest here in the dark and silence. The world would go on as it ever had, and Abel Nightroad could be with his family again.

Forever.


End file.
